Puppy training tips

Congratulations, you have a new puppy! Now say good bye to life as you know it for the next six months. Okay, it’s not quite that life consuming, but having a puppy can and does take it’s toll on the most well managed of families. But don’t despair, you’ll get through this stage of nipping, carpet soiling, and general puppy craziness and have a well behaved dog at the end to show for it. What more could you ask for?

Setting him up for success
You’ve brought home your furry bundle of joy, the first thing you do is set him down and see what happens, right? Wrong. Puppies are like small children, they need supervision. Letting your puppy roam the house right away is just setting him up to fail. He’ll be free to wander away from you and soil the carpet, chew on inappropriate things, harass the cat, you name it and your puppy will probably get into it.
Set him up for success by supervising him at all times and if you cannot be with him then put him in his crate until you can.
Going to the bathroom? Take the puppy with you, or crate him. Getting the mail? Take the puppy with you or crate him. You get the idea. Successful puppy training is all about proper supervision.

Puppy Proofing
Children’s toys, books, remote controls, anything in reach is fair game to a puppy. If you don’t want it chewed, pick it up. If you leave something out and it gets chewed then feel free to roll up a newspaper and whack yourself over the head with it a few times, then pick up the item and make sure not to leave it out again. Puppy teeth show no mercy, whether it’s worth ten dollars or a thousand your puppy won’t care. Keep your stuff out of reach or risk having it shredded.

Early Training
Puppies between the ages of 8-16 weeks are like little sponges, they soak up training very quickly and are at the perfect age to learn new things. Don’t wait until your pup is six months old to start training or you’ll be missing a unique window of time during development when your puppy is the most impressionable. Pick up a training book, go to puppy classes, and start teaching him. What he learns now is what will last a lifetime.

House rules for puppies
Don’t let the fluffy fur, big eyes and slobbery kisses fool you. Puppies need rules too. You wouldn’t allow a 3 year old to wander about and do whatever they please without teaching rules and boundaries, and the same should be true for your puppy. Decide now what behaviors you don’t want to see (jumping up, begging, barking, etc.) and do your best not to encourage them. An excited pup scratching at your legs may be cute, but the same behavior from a 90lb dog isn’t. If you don’t want to see it when he’s full grown, then start enforcing your house rules now. Preventing bad behavior at this age is easier than fixing it later.

Praise, Praise, Praise
Your mission, should you choose to accept is to find ten things your puppy did right today and praise him for it. Praise from you is something special and something your puppy should want to earn, reserve it for those situations when you catch him doing something right and then lavish him with praise. Did he ignore the remote in favor of chewing on his own toy? Praise him! Is he sitting patiently for petting instead of climbing all over you? Praise him! Did he come running after you called? PRAISE HIM! Make a point to look for good behavior on a regular basis and praise for it and you’ll see more of it in the future.

Other links of interest: Dog health care tips